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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27239845">Broken But Not Beyond Repair</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Politics</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:07:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,661</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27239845</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Steve is found he meets the sitting president, Barack Obama. Steve loses track of politics while trying to find Bucky and this is the aftermath after Bucky is home.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Broken But Not Beyond Repair</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Please be aware, Stucky is not the main focus of this work. It is not like my usual works. This is about politics and all that happened and is still happening under the Trump administration. Nothing goes too in-depth but if you think anything about this story may trigger you, please don't read it. Your mental health should be a priority. </p><p>I will admit, I am extremely biased but I have not put any lies into this work. While most of the characters are fictional, things that are mentioned are happening every day to real people.</p><p>Extra.<br/>I have been working on new stories but I can almost promise that I will not post again before the election. Depending on how the election goes, this may be the last I post for quite some time.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Steve had woken up from the ice, so many things had been different. People dressed differently, talked differently, communicated differently, and loved differently.</p><p>Not long after he had been found, he had met the sitting president. A nice man by the name of Barack Obama who had run on the prospect of hope and change. The first, most obvious, thing that Steve had noticed about the president was his skin color. Someone had mentioned that things weren’t as they had been before and during the war but they hadn’t told Steve all that he had missed.</p><p>Steve had never cared about the color of anyone’s skin. Hell, he had formed the first multiracial unit and he had loved the Howling Commandoes like family.</p><p>“Sir, it’s an honor to meet you,” Steve said and he shook the president’s hand.</p><p>“I could say the same thing to you. You helped the country take a step in the right direction with the formation of the Howling Commandoes,” Obama said.</p><p>Photos were taken and they had an opportunity to simply talk without politics in play. Steve had asked Obama about some of his policies and what he had missed. Obama had taken time out of his doubtlessly busy day to answer Steve’s questions.</p><p>When Obama had to get back to running a country, he shook Steve’s hand again. “After all that you’ve told me, I would say that the country is in good hands,” Steve said before returning back to his DC apartment.</p><p>Over the course of the following years, Steve endorsed President Obama and attended his political events when given the chance.</p><p>In the middle of President Obama’s second term, Steve’s world was turned upside down.</p><p>Bucky was back from the dead but it wasn’t quite Bucky. Steve wasn’t able to keep up politically after that for a while as he tried to find Bucky and bring him home.</p><p>By the time Steve returned home with Bucky, the 2016 election was in full swing. Steve had obviously heard clips and a little bit about the election but he hadn’t realized what exactly had been going on.</p><p>“You’re telling me that some people actually think this is up for debate,” Steve asked incredulously after Tony had caught him up on what he missed while tracking down Bucky.</p><p>“Apparently,” Tony said with a roll of his eyes.</p><p>A moment of silence passed. Steve was about to return to his floor to be with Bucky when Tony stopped him. “I would recommend starting a request for a pardon for Barnes. I imagine that Clinton may grant one after the case is made but I wouldn’t count on Trump for any form of human decency.”</p><p>Steve had simply nodded solemnly but he had taken Tony’s advice. Before leaving office, President Obama had granted Bucky a pardon for all crime in the US that he may have committed while under Hydra’s control.</p><p>“Thank you, sir,” Steve had told him the next time he saw the other man.</p><p>“Any reasonable person would have done the same. Unlike many people in the general public, I actually read what was done to Sargent Barnes. Some of the things they did, well, it kept me awake for a few nights. He had no choice in the manner and I stand by my decision. How is Sargent Barnes,” Obama asked lightly.</p><p>“Bucky is healing. He was able to heal quite a bit before I brought him home but we still have a long way to go,” Steve simply said.</p><p>That was true but the PG version of it. Bucky wasn’t sleeping well. He would wake up screaming, begging to not have to kill anyone else, and sometimes confused as to where he was and who he was. He had stabbed Steve once, it had been Steve’s fault, he had moved too quickly and silently, but they were slowly making some progress. Bucky had the best therapist that money could buy and they were working on getting all of Hydra’s programming out of his head.</p><p>“I had been hoping to see you at the celebration of the court’s decision about marriage last year,” Obama said as a way to change the topic.</p><p>Steve had been a very vocal advocate for marriage equality ever since he had come out of the ice and the closet.</p><p>“I wish I could have been there but I did have to make sure my fella was safe,” Steve had said.</p><p>They had talked for a while longer. Steve stayed for photos and then he returned to the tower where the other half of his heart was.</p><p><br/>•••</p><p><br/>Election night rolled around and the country was stunned into silence only to release a cry of protest once the news finally sank in. People walked around in a haze for days. Some cried for what they were about to lose and mourned the freedoms that they could already feel slipping away.</p><p>Even though Bucky wasn’t sure exactly what had happened, he could see that not only Steve but the rest of the Avengers were solemn.</p><p>Bucky watched as Wanda and Pietro broke down in the others embrace for fear of being deported because they weren’t citizens. He saw as Sam and Rhodey collectively held their breath as they waited for a shoe that would continuously drop as people demand justice only for the pleas to fall upon deaf ears.</p><p>He watched as Steve retreated into himself to process what had happened.</p><p>No, Bucky wasn’t entirely sure what the results of the election would mean but he knew that it would only spell trouble. He knew that the majority of the country had voted for the woman named Hilary Clinton but the orange man had won the electoral college. Bucky had never understood the elector college even when it had been explained to him in his history class.</p><p>When he eventually asked Steve, Steve had simply told him to focus on getting better so he had gone to Natasha who he knew wouldn’t sugar coat it.</p><p>“A lot of people are very scared for very good reasons. People are scared of losing their ability to love who they want, be safe in their own skin, have the ability to choose what they want for their bodies, lose medical care. To put it simply, Donald Trump is the candidate that Hydra would have wanted. I don’t think they could have handpicked a better person for their cause if they tried and they didn’t for once.”</p><p>Bucky had been quiet, or quieter, for a few days after. He was no longer a snipe or an assassin but he briefly wished that he were.</p><p>Even though he didn’t have many vivid memories of President Obama’s terms, he had known that Steve liked and admired the man and they had been enough for Bucky. He also knew that President Obama was a large reason he wasn’t rotting away in a cell, not that Steve would have let that happen anyways. He had shown Bucky compassion and mercy while the people on Fox News had called for his head on a stick.</p><p>While Bucky wasn’t positive about many things, he was positive that the next four years would be hard. No one could have known how true that thought had been.</p><p><br/>•••</p><p><br/>Election season was rolling around again and people were undeniably tense.</p><p>The primaries came and went with Joe Biden becoming the Democratic nominee while Trump remained the Republican nominee.</p><p>More things than could be summed up had happened in the past four years. Trump had appointed two Supreme Court justices, he had been impeached, called white supremacists “very good people,” and so many other more things than many people could count.</p><p>Things changed even more when the Corona virus hit the United States and the president did nothing and let over 210,000 people needlessly die.</p><p>In the midst of the pandemic, people everywhere came together and protested the needless deaths of George Floyd and Briana Tayler. People cried and screamed for change only to have their voices violently silenced as well.</p><p>Less than two months before the election, a beloved Supreme Court justice died. Trump had already started the process to replace her vacant seat before she had even been laid to rest. Her dying wish was ignored because her seat was filled only a week before the election.</p><p>People continued to mourn for those who had been lost and those they continued to lose.</p><p>Steve had become active politically ever since the 2016 election. Bucky joined him when he was ready.</p><p>Trump had even gone as far as to say that Captain America supported him. Steve had retaliated publicly.</p><p>“I have never and will never support Donald Trump. When I was found, I met the sitting president who had run on the campaign of change and hope. Donald Trump stands for hate, discrimination, bigotry, white supremacy, sexism, homophobia, and more things than can be listed. Many things should have disqualified Donald Trump from becoming president but here we are. The only way to fix this egregious mistake is the vote.”</p><p>That video had played on countless channels and social media platforms.</p><p><br/>•••</p><p><br/>The election is a week away. Donald Trump has blatantly ignored the constitution and cares for no one but himself. He has shown no remorse for any number of the things he has done. He ignores science and doesn’t care about all of the death and destruction that he has left in his wake as long as he remains in power. The United States is broken and fractured but hopefully not beyond repair.</p><p>Vote.</p><p>Vote like your life depends on it because it very well could.</p><p>Joe Biden is not a perfect man by any means but he is all we have and he sure as hell is better than Trump.</p><p>If you are eighteen years old or older, vote because voting is the only way to try to save the country right now.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The final part of this work obviously breaks the fourth wall but I urge everyone who is able to vote. </p><p>This is not only important to me for my own safety but for my sister who is part of the LGBTQ+ community, for my two best friends who are both people of color and LGBTQ+ members, and for everyone else who I may not have met but have empathy for. </p><p>This election is critical and will decide the fate of millions of people. The United States is broken and fractured but hopefully not beyond repair. I want to believe that the country can still be brought together but I know that Donald Trump isn't the man who can do that. </p><p>Please. Everyone vote.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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